For the first time in Spain—and, three months later, for the first time in France with the Popular Front—the left will have united. The Frente Popular, in fact, includes the Republican Left (Azaria), the Republican Union (Diego Martinez Barrie), the Catalan Esquerra (Luis Companys Jover), the Socialists (Largo Caballero and Prieto), the Communists (Diaz), the P.O.U.M., workers' party of Marxist unification (workers' and peasants' bloc and communist left) and some isolated Catalan groups. The Frente also benefited from the electoral support of the anarchists and the General Confederation of Labour.
The left exults. But the right is not discouraged. Quite the contrary. Strengthened by its ideology - anti-Marxism, traditionalism, Iberian unity - embodied by dynamic groups such as the National-Syndicalist Offensive Juntas (J.O.N.S.) whose emblem is represented by the yoke and the arrows of the Catholic Monarchs, it seeks -leaders.
Who will lead the fight against the Frente popular? Gil Robles? Too left for the monarchists. Too right for Republicans. Jose Calyo Sotelo? He is the spokesperson for the opposition, he does not embody it entirely.
But now a new man has arisen:José Antonio, son of Miguel Primo de Rivera. He founded the Falange, a movement which claims the historical unity of Spain and appeals to hero worship. Nostalgic for the Catholic and warlike Spain of the Golden Age, the Falange is served by the brilliant personality of its founder. More than a political party, the Falange, whose watchwords are inspired by those of Italian fascism, is a group that is still relatively small in number, but which offers, in a lyrical and violent form, much less a positive program than a proud mystic, capable of enchaining the nobility, the clergy and the bourgeoisie.
The spring and summer of 1936 were marked by dramatic incidents. The distension towards their extremes of the left and the right results in often serious disorders. While the generals. suspects — Goded and Franco — were sent to the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands respectively, that José Antonio multiplied the meetings, that the government oscillated between conciliation and the strong way, terrorism took to the streets. There are only bloody brawls, church burnings and bombings. The situation is explosive. It will explode a few days after the assassination of the representative of the opposition, Calvo Sotelo. This time, the chips are down.